Missouri judge rules in favor of same-sex couples

KANSAS CITY — Missouri must recognize the marriages of same-sex couples legally performed in other states, a state judge ruled Friday, saying the state's constitution and laws banning the unions are unconstitutional.

The order means that such couples would be eligible to sign up for a wide range of tax, health insurance, veterans and other benefits now afforded to opposite-sex couples. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, who has defended the state's ban on gay marriage, said his office was reviewing the ruling.

Jackson County Circuit Judge J. Dale Youngs made the ruling in a lawsuit filed by 10 same-sex couples who were married in states where gay marriage is legal. The couples argue that their rights to equal protection and due process are being violated by Missouri's ban on gay marriage. One of the couples is Katherine and Ashley Quinn of Springfield.

"It's not every day that you get the opportunity to get to do something so directly as participating in a lawsuit to support your family, to stand up for your rights," Katherine Quinn said, previously.

Youngs agreed, saying the couples deserve the same recognition as opposite-sex couples who were married in other states. He said Missouri's bans serve no legitimate government interest.

"The undisputed facts before the Court show that, to the extent these laws prohibit plaintiffs' legally contracted marriages from other states being recognized here, they are wholly irrational, do not rest upon any reasonable basis, and are purely arbitrary," Youngs wrote. "All they do is treat one segment of the population — gay men and lesbians — differently than their same-sex counterparts, for no logical reason."

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has been helping the couples, applauded the ruling.

"We're gratified that the court recognized that married same-sex couples and their families are no different than other couples, and that the Constitution requires them to be treated equally," ACLU attorney Tony Rothert said.

The case is among at least three challenging Missouri's ban on same-sex marriage. The others include a federal challenge in Kansas City and a St. Louis case in which city officials granted marriage licenses to four same-sex couples to trigger a legal test of the ban. The lawsuits are based on the same arguments that led the U.S. Supreme Court last year to overturn part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that denied a tax, health and other benefits to legally married gay couples.

The lawsuit before Youngs only challenges Missouri's refusal to recognize marriages legally performed in other states, not laws that bar same-sex couples from getting marriage in Missouri. But the judge said he expects the Missouri Supreme Court to weigh in on the overall issue and "provide the last word on all of the important legal issues presented by this case."

Same-sex marriage is now legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The American Civil Liberties Union says it has marriage cases pending against 13 other states, of which five are before federal appeals courts.